Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock trades near its all-time high. Its market cap is just under $4 trillion, and during trading yesterday, it briefly reached that number. However, Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) figure jumped over $4 trillion yesterday, and Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) is just shy of $5 trillion.

The fact is, among the seven mega-tech stocks, Apple has underperformed this year, compared to all the others but one.

Apple’s stock is up about 7% this year. Among the Magnificent 7, only Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has a worse performance, with an increase of 5%. Every other stock on the list is up by mid-double-digits. Nvidia’s advance is nearly 40%, and this leads the group. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is up close to 30%.

Apple’s modest increase is due to strong iPhone 17 sales. There are reports that these have outpaced the iPhone 16. It appears that in the first 10 days after their releases, the iPhone 17 did better in China and the United States.

It is also reported that Apple’s high-margin Services business is growing rapidly, which would help make up for slow sales of iPads and Macs. What this means is that one strong number is offsetting two weak ones.

Despite strong iPhone sales, negative views about Apple focus on only one thing. It does not have a strong artificial intelligence product, and management says it will not have one until next year. Rumors suggest that Apple has not been able to build a cutting-edge AI version of Siri. That puts its AI product behind those of Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google. Even smaller companies like xAI seem to have better AI products.

Apple’s earnings will have to be unusually strong to offset its mediocre performance this year. And management will need to post a strong forecast for its first true AI product.

Apple Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2025–2030

The image featured for this article is © PeopleImages / Getty Images

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock trades near its all-time high. Its market cap is just under $4 trillion, and during trading yesterday, it briefly reached that number. However, Microsoft Corp.’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) figure jumped over $4 trillion yesterday, and Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) is just shy of $5 trillion.

The fact is, among the seven mega-tech stocks, Apple has underperformed this year, compared to all the others but one.

Apple’s stock is up about 7% this year. Among the Magnificent 7, only Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has a worse performance, with an increase of 5%. Every other stock on the list is up by mid-double-digits. Nvidia’s advance is nearly 40%, and this leads the group. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is up close to 30%.

Apple’s modest increase is due to strong iPhone 17 sales. There are reports that these have outpaced the iPhone 16. It appears that in the first 10 days after their releases, the iPhone 17 did better in China and the United States.

It is also reported that Apple’s high-margin Services business is growing rapidly, which would help make up for slow sales of iPads and Macs. What this means is that one strong number is offsetting two weak ones.

Despite strong iPhone sales, negative views about Apple focus on only one thing. It does not have a strong artificial intelligence product, and management says it will not have one until next year. Rumors suggest that Apple has not been able to build a cutting-edge AI version of Siri. That puts its AI product behind those of Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google. Even smaller companies like xAI seem to have better AI products.

Apple’s earnings will have to be unusually strong to offset its mediocre performance this year. And management will need to post a strong forecast for its first true AI product.

Apple Stock Price Prediction and Forecast 2025–2030

The image featured for this article is © PeopleImages / Getty Images